Coach praises Peru's gritty response

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil - Peru coach Ricardo Gareca praised his squad for overcoming adversity after it reached the Copa America final with a 3-0 win over defending champion Chile on Wednesday.

Peru was completely transformed from the meek outfit that was thrashed 5-0 by Brazil in its final group-stage match as goals from Edison Flores, Yoshimar Yotun and Paolo Guerrero carried it to the final for the first time since 1975.

"We've come through some tough moments in the Copa and we deserve to be in the final," said the Argentine coach.

"We managed to overcome the huge adversity of the defeat to Brazil that was hastily judged and provoked a wave of harsh criticism," he said in a pointed rebuke to the Peruvian press.

Captain Guerrero, whose cool finish in injury time put the gloss on an impressive performance said there was still work to do.

"It was a derby against Chile, a difficult match, we prepared well and won it very well," he said.

"We kept our concentration and we're in the final. Now we have to work hard and think about Brazil."

Chile coach Reinaldo Rueda was at a loss to explain his team's performance, which was in stark contrast to its impressive showing last time out against Colombia in the quarterfinal.

"I don't know what factors could have influenced those first 20 minutes that made the difference," said the Colombian. "We didn't get into the game, we didn't show the attitude or aggressiveness of other matches.

"Mentally, we wanted to play the final without dealing first with this step... and Peru surprised us."

But, he noted, "their goalkeeper had a great night."

Pedro Gallese was the villain of Peru's hammering by Brazil but has made up for it since.

He crucially saved a shootout penalty by Uruguay's Luis Suarez in the quarterfinal and made brilliant stops to deny Jean Beausejour, Alexis Sanchez and Eduardo Vargas on Wednesday.

Chile captain Gary Medel said the reigning champion had much to be proud of after winning the previous two Copa editions.

"We had a lot of chances in the second half but we couldn't convert them. Now we have to fight for third place and give our all against Argentina," Medel said.

"There's nothing more to say. There is always a chance for revenge in football and we have to stay positive and take the benefits from this - what we did badly, what we did well.

"We've had a great tournament. It's not easy to win the Copa America, and we did it in the best way."

Agence France - Presse